Feeling the atmosphere freeze over, Yuuki savored the delight welling up inside him.
Now that he had become the strongest, achieving his goal was within arm's reach. In that case, he thought, it would be rather entertaining to watch his worthy opponents seethe with frustration.
Until a month ago, these were people none among them could have faced on even terms.
But Yuuki felt no inferiority whatsoever about that.
Rather, it had been his supreme pleasure to toy with those superior beings, manipulating them at will to bring chaos and ruin upon the world.
However, thanks to the existence of Rimuru standing before him now, every plan Yuuki had devised had ended in failure.
It was one unexpected outcome after another.
When they had first faced each other in the Kingdom of Englassia, Yuuki had sensed an inexplicable premonition.
He had deployed Hinata as a safety net at the time, but she had slipped away unscathed.
The idea of Hinata—composed and never off her guard—failing was inconceivable, so the moment it became clear that Rimuru had survived, Yuuki had identified him as an enemy.
From that moment until now.
Rimuru had systematically crushed every one of his plans.
Yuuki did not feel anger over this.
On the contrary, he was almost inclined to show respect for that magnificent skill.
When the board had tilted so far that even deploying every piece at his disposal wouldn't guarantee victory, Yuuki had finally resolved to act himself.
This time, it wouldn't be play like his fight against Leon—for the first time in his life, he had resolved to seek strength in earnest.
He estimated it would take one month to fully analyze all the powers.
In the meantime, he had decided to let Velda take the spotlight and do as he pleased.
Technically, Yuuki's personality held the superior position, but since they were equal entities who alternated, once he stepped back, he could not swap back by his own will.
That was precisely why this had been a gamble.
Velda's objective was also the destruction of the world, but the destination he envisioned differed from Yuuki's.
Yuuki's ultimate goal was to return this world to nothingness, but Velda's was not.
After destroying it, Velda intended to construct a new world with himself as its god.
To Yuuki, it was nothing short of a laughably naive notion.
Expecting it would fail regardless, Yuuki issued his final command.
And the result had been exactly as Yuuki predicted...
Yuuki was a genius, but he had not obtained all of
Moreover, it was untrue that he could wield every single one of Veldanava's abilities.
But there was no problem at all.
It was true that he could exercise nearly all of Veldanava's abilities.
Yuuki had already acquired enough power to destroy this world.
Velda—the
The reason was simple: insufficient capacity.
Over the course of that month, Yuuki had analyzed every ability and made his selections.
He decomposed the Ultimate Skill King of Greed back into Existence Value, then attempted to replicate the abilities he needed.
By fully replicating King of Creation, that had become possible.
But some abilities simply could not be replicated.
The ultimate and supreme ability—the Imaginary Collapse that had generated the primordial energy used to create the world—proved, in the end, impossible to replicate.
Had he somehow managed to replicate it, he would have only triggered an uncontrollable energy surge and annihilated himself—unless he used it to create a world as Veldanava had.
After all, Imaginary Collapse was exactly what its name implied: a pure, ultra-high-density energy capable of destroying everything.
It was an ability of a transcendent dimension—one that could destroy an existing world and even create a new one.
Veldanava had created this world and, in doing so, lost Imaginary Collapse. What remained was the Magicule Breeder.
Because this ability allowed him to generate an inexhaustible supply of magicules, Veldanava had been the strongest.
And the Magicule Breeder had been passed down to Milim, making her the strongest.
The ability to manipulate Imaginary Particles—compressed magicules—was merely a byproduct of the Magicule Breeder.
Yuuki had replicated this ultimate power as well.
Having become a Spiritual Life-Form, Yuuki had used Velda's knowledge as a foundation to create the Magicule Breeder and completely subjugate it.
However, using it as-is would leave insufficient capacity to employ other abilities, reducing him to a mere imitation of Milim.
He could control the output the way Guy did, but that wouldn't be enough to surpass either of them.
Pondering this, Yuuki hit upon the idea of replicating the abilities through the Creation Sword: Star Emperor Dragon Horn Sword.
The Creation Sword: Star Emperor Dragon Horn Sword was a crystallization of Veldanava's power—half of Veldanava's Maximum Existence Value condensed into a single blade.
It was the sword of a god, destined to eventually be inherited by Milim.
Thus, replicating the abilities stored in Velda's memories was trivially easy.
He dismantled his own Ultimate Skill, King of Creation, fused it with Velda's knowledge, and from that union gave birth to the Origin Skill: Information King.
He installed this Origin Skill—Information King—into the Creation Sword: Star Emperor Dragon Horn Sword and calibrated it so that any selected ability could be deployed at any time.
Because it had been calibrated exclusively for Yuuki, Velda could not use it.
Velda's role was to serve as a permanent monitoring device, maintaining the Magicule Breeder at optimal output at all times.
In this way, Yuuki was reborn as the ultimate incarnation of absolute power—one who could command every ability.
*** The only person Yuuki needed to be wary of now was a single individual.
Rimuru alone, who stood before him with a disgruntled expression.
This detestable monster had always exceeded Yuuki's expectations.
That was precisely why there was no need for restraint—he had to assess Rimuru's true strength and then finish him off with the most powerful technique currently at Yuuki's disposal.
In terms of raw power, they were evenly matched.
Even with Yuuki as a Spiritual Life-Form and an Awakened Hero running the Magicule Breeder at maximum output, he still could not surpass Rimuru's power.
This was abnormal.
(A pain, truly. I'd been expecting to have a slight edge in power, but no such luck—) His weapon had the advantage, but in a prolonged battle, even that could shift.
(Velda, use energy at full capacity. Fill the Creation Sword: Star Emperor Dragon Horn Sword with power up to its absolute limit!)
Yuuki issued the command to Velda and lunged at Rimuru with speed that surpassed anything before.
Yet even that was deflected with ease.
Energy wrapped around both swords to prevent blade damage, and the interference between them generated a violent shockwave—but to Yuuki and Rimuru, such things were little more than a passing breeze.
(He handled even that lunge... but his reactions are slightly slower. Probably about even with me when it comes to swordsmanship.)
Yuuki snapped his fingers.
At the same instant, the movement of the world came to a halt. Time had stopped.
"Time stop, at this point? That's pointless..."
"Yeah, I don't think it does any good either."
"—You lying bastard. You did it to shut down my specialty and give yourself the advantage, didn't you?"
"Ahahahaha. Can't fool you, I guess."
Yuuki grinned.
Using Primordial Magic, he had stopped time with ease.
There were two reasons.
The first was, as Rimuru had said, to restrict ranged abilities.
By narrowing Rimuru's options—him who possessed a diverse arsenal of offensive means—Yuuki could steer the battle in his favor.
Above all, to seal away the ring-type magic those demons had shown earlier—the kind of uncanny sorcery they wielded—stopping time was the optimal approach.
In a world of frozen time, casting magic was impossible—with one exception: Primordial Magic.
Yuuki had created an environment where Rimuru's magical attacks were sealed while he himself could cast freely.
—Burn! O Primordial Flame!
The instant Yuuki willed it, Rimuru was engulfed in flames.
"W-What!? How can you use magic inside a time stop!?"
As expected, Rimuru had not predicted this attack.
Yuuki continued in rapid succession, manifesting phenomena through will alone.
He drove Rimuru back with fire, hardened the ground to restrict his movement, tore open space—and toyed with him.
This was his trump card.
One of the ace cards he believed would be decidedly effective.
Yet unfortunately, Yuuki had concluded that Primordial Magic alone would not be enough to defeat Rimuru.
Naturally, there was a deeply calculated reason for Yuuki to deploy Primordial Magic even though it wouldn't deliver the finishing blow.
In Yuuki's assessment, Rimuru had a habit of constantly observing his opponent's attacks. While that certainly reflected his confidence in his ability to counter any offense, there was more to it. Yuuki believed it stemmed from a fundamental softness in Rimuru—the desire to probe an enemy's true intentions, to understand them.
This time, Yuuki had struck at that very vulnerability.
And because Rimuru had not gone all-out from the start—exactly as predicted—Yuuki had succeeded in activating the frozen world.
Within this stopped time, if he used Primordial Magic, there was a high probability that Rimuru would attempt to analyze it.
Primordial Magic was indeed a trump card, but using it to defeat Rimuru was impossible.
If that was the case, then even if it was valuable, there was no harm in using it as bait.
If he didn't win this battle, there would be no next time—that was Yuuki's judgment.
Right now, however slight his advantage, Yuuki believed he had the upper hand and had no intention of holding back.
If he simply gave it everything and achieved victory over Rimuru, Yuuki's wish would be fulfilled.
The enemy was Rimuru alone—and Yuuki thought of him in precisely those terms, having evaluated Rimuru that highly.
As Yuuki had aimed for, Rimuru appeared to be analyzing Primordial Magic.
Reading the enemy's hand during combat could not be called wrong in and of itself. However, while engaged in the kind of razor-edge battle that Yuuki and Rimuru were currently locked in, letting oneself be distracted by minutiae was a fatal mistake.
From the moment this battle began—no, even before it started—Yuuki had been laying various preparations.
Beyond analyzing abilities through Velda, he had constantly been devising strategies for how to eliminate the strongest beings who could rival him.
Stopping time had not been done solely to limit Rimuru's abilities and gain the upper hand.
Rather, making Rimuru think so had been Yuuki's true aim.
The true objective of the time stop was something far more than that trivial reason— "You're too predictable, Yuuki. I'm starting to figure it out—don't think you're the only one who can use magic in a time stop!"
Just as Yuuki had predicted—or perhaps even faster—Rimuru appeared to have completed his analysis of Primordial Magic.
The Primordial Flame he had just cast without incantation was frozen by Rimuru.
Through the elemental opposition of ice to fire, Yuuki's will was nullified.
All Yuuki could do was smile wryly at this, he thought.
To have one of his trump cards nullified in such a short time—considering this was within stopped time, it had happened in an instant.
But even that was all part of Yuuki's plan.
The blade and the sword clashed.
Both fighters exchanged blows loaded with tremendous power.
And yet, even if only for a moment, Yuuki had succeeded in diverting Rimuru's attention.
—I've been waiting for this moment!!
Yuuki sneered.
And at the instant he clashed with Rimuru once more in full force, he set the final phase of his plan into motion.
Amid the colossal energies colliding and scattering shockwaves in every direction, he activated a magic formula without incantation.
Naturally, having understood Primordial Magic, Rimuru responded by activating magic of his own to neutralize it.
(Just as I expected. As expected of Rimuru—he took exactly the correct countermeasure.)
Yuuki felt satisfied, yet also a faint sense of emptiness.
He realized that no matter how well he could read his opponent's thoughts, in the end, they could never truly understand each other.
They were, after all, separate people—the idea of understanding each other completely nothing more than a fantasy.
Yuuki harbored that sentiment, but before dwelling on it, he revealed his final trump card.
In the end, Yuuki and Rimuru were enemies.
The moment Rimuru activated his spell-nullification, Yuuki triggered the mechanism built into his prosthetic left arm.
The arm smoothly shifted form, and the magic circle engraved upon it was thrust toward Rimuru and released.
The events around them were rewritten, converging into a single spell.
An ultimate magical martial technique—one that could never be activated by a single person alone.
—Space-Time Leap — Tremor Shock— An ultimate super space-time magic that teleported the target to the space-time where time ends.
It consumed all the energy filling the battlefield and even the raging space-time tremors, giving birth to the spell.
And with that immeasurable energy, it carried Rimuru away to the "End of Space-Time."
It engulfed every clone body connected to Rimuru through his space-time continuum—sweeping them all up in the process...
Had the "Soul Corridor" not been sealed, Rimuru's subordinates and even
That was the staggering coercive power of this magic—all resistance was rendered meaningless.
Space-Time Leap — Tremor Shock could not be activated by Yuuki alone.
The reason was simple: it was a composite spell that required at least two or more spells to be cast simultaneously. Moreover, those spells had to be identical in nature—exactly the same properties.
What Yuuki had built into his prosthetic arm was simple yet the ultimate formula.
Its effect: inversion.
It was a formula that reversed the magical effect of its target.
Primordial Magic was a magic that reflected one's will—it was not something you activated after understanding what kind of spell you were casting.
All you had to do was wish, and the phenomenon would manifest. That was its defining characteristic and the very reason it was called an ultimate magic.
Now, with time stop limiting which spells could be cast, it was possible to guide the content of Rimuru's spell toward the outcome Yuuki desired.
The spell Rimuru would cast was simple and clear: namely, nullification.
If Rimuru tried to analyze the spell Yuuki had cast, stopping it would be impossible. Given the time delay, he would have to nullify it the instant Yuuki cast it.
That was how Yuuki reasoned.
Or rather, he had revealed his hand to Rimuru while guiding his thoughts, maneuvering him into acting exactly this way in this situation.
And true to Yuuki's aim, Rimuru activated the spell.
Everything had been Yuuki's trap, and Rimuru had been beautifully manipulated into doing exactly as intended.
In a space where genesis-level energies were colliding and space-time tremors were even being generated, what Yuuki had cast was space-time magic: Time Stop.
Normally, using Time Stop within a stopped world was meaningless—after all, you cannot stop something that is already stopped.
However, this time, Yuuki's setup had changed the situation.
Rimuru had cast a spell intending to nullify Yuuki's magic—an equal amount of energy carrying the opposite properties. But that spell was inverted by Yuuki's mechanism, transforming into a spell identical in nature and energy volume to Yuuki's own.
Thus, the conditions needed to activate Space-Time Leap — Tremor Shock were met.
Adding Time Stop to Time Stop changed nothing.
But combining them produced a dramatic transformation.
Bathed in the flow of all time simultaneously, repelled by the space that sought to fix them, the target was sent hurtling to the distant reaches of time.
To the far future—the place where time and space converge at their end: the "End of Space-Time."
If he couldn't defeat him, then he'd simply push the problem into the future—that was the conclusion Yuuki had reached.
Fighting head-on against a transcendent being like Rimuru—someone who could match or even surpass him—was the height of foolishness.
Send him into the future and destroy the world in the opening that created. That was the answer.
At the very end, the difficulty of his little game—destroying the world, which had been boring and simple—had skyrocketed, but clearing it would only bring greater joy.
Yuuki was satisfied, and a smile rose from the very depths of his heart.
*** The moment Rimuru vanished, the time stop was lifted.
Without waiting for that to happen, the remaining fighters all moved at once.
Most of them did not yet accurately understand what had just happened before their eyes.
But one fact was crystal clear to everyone: Rimuru was gone.
"Well now, I've sent the greatest obstacle on a trip to the future. This is checkmate, wouldn't you say?"
Yuuki declared with a thin smirk.
Hearing that, Milim collapsed to the ground, weeping.
"Rimuru... Rimuru is gone..."
At Milim's anguished whisper,
Unaware of what she was doing, her form was rapidly maturing into that of an adult— "Of course Rimuru will be fine! Beat him and bring Rimuru back right away!"
Ramiris screamed.
Those words brought the fire back to Milim's eyes.
"That's right. That's exactly it. Let's do this, Ramiris!"
"Yeah!"
The two steeled their resolve.
Above Milim's shoulders as she rose and stood strong once more, even Gaia was glaring daggers at Yuuki.
Beside Milim stood the beautifully matured Ramiris.
Her rainbow-colored hair spread wide as she concentrated her consciousness, preparing to unleash Primordial Magic capable of altering even the laws of the world.
And the rest of them as well— "Guess we've got no choice but to fight. Looks like some kind of ridiculous monster, but if this is the end anyway, might as well go all out—should be interesting."
"Hehe, it's been too long, Guy. I'm not leaving your side until the very end."
"Good grief. I just came back to life, and I was hoping to see how the world turned out. Well, it can't be helped. Velgrynd, if you make it out alive, give me a tour of the world, will you?"
"Don't be an idiot, Rudra. Before the world, I'll be searching for your reincarnation. And besides... I think you should come to terms with the fact that you haven't truly come back to life."
"Kufufufu. Defeat for Lord Rimuru is inconceivable, but we shall watch over things in his absence for a while."
"Indeed. Master may have some scheme of his own, but there should be no reason not to defeat that thing."
Each voiced their own thoughts, and as one, they stood together against Yuuki.
And with all their might and souls, they unleashed their combined killing blow upon Yuuki simultaneously.
—Everything had gone exactly as Yuuki intended.
Now, with the Origin Skill Information King, Yuuki could wield every ability.
That meant it was also possible to devour all of the energy using the
Before the torrent of world-ending energies rushing toward him, Yuuki allowed a dark smile to spread across his face.